SOOOOO, in short, I would like any of the following jobs:
* Concert photographer
* Traveling concert photographer/documentarian (I love rock-umentaries.)
* Photo editor (preferably not for something stuffy like pharmaceuticals)
* Avante garde supplemental wedding photographer who is responsible for taking the "fun" pictures/candids
* Myspace researcher/friend getter (I have zero web design skills and do not know HTML)
* Graphic designer for a company willing to train me in the ways of the MAC world & all of the programs that I do not know (I am a fast learner.)
* Tshirt designer
* Continuity expert for movies/tv (I hate so very much when the glass refills itself halfway through a scene)
* Music blogger
* Professional improviser (I would be a perfect addition to the "Reno 911!" staff.)
* Rock star (I know five chords now and can almost carry a tune)

Any suggestions?  I have searched craigslist and monster and have yet to find a job that suits my abilities.  I have, however, found out that I could get paid thousands of dollars per week just to take surveys from home.  Too bad "taking surveys" is not one of my skills.  Any ideas on easy ways to create your own professional looking photo portfolio online?  I am currently sending people to my slightly out of date photo.net site.  I am open to any and all suggestions. 

The Specs

• Dual 2.8 Ghz Processors
• 500 gig Hard Drive
• 512mb nVidia graphics card
• 2 gigs of RAM

The unboxing went pretty smooth. Everything was where it was supposed to be and I got to give props to apple for their little details. Things like labeling their first CD packet "Everything Mac". You take it out and immediately see another packet labeled "Everything Else." I know it sounds small but its little details like that that set Apple apart from everyone else. Once I got everything hooked up and booted up I was treated to a very pretty welcome animation before setting up the basic settings. After that it just came down to software installs and getting my settings how I wanted them. Also ended up just making my own desktop background as I could not find any good 1920x1200 ones I liked on short notice.

As far as my current experience goes I could not be more pleased. I have run into no major issues and I'm finding new ways to increase my productivity every day. Got the CS3 Web Premium suite installed and have started messing around in there a bit. Gonna be working on some web design in the near future [probably tomorrow]. I think I might do another music journal entry soon, and I hope I can keep the artwork flowing.

So long for now.

Does not fail to make me chuckle.

I am stating that because PCs SUCK.  And I am probably a little bias because I am a Mac user now.

Let me describe to you the battle I go through everyday with this piece of technology called the PC:

Belle arrives at office, turns on computer. She waits for the computer to start up, and she is enjoying her morning coffee while waiting. After about a minute and two sips of coffee, the screen to enter her password appears. She types in the password, and waits again. She continues to enjoy her coffee. After about another minute, the desktop screen loads up. But she has to wait for at least two minutes for the computer to be ready for use. That is fine, since she is still enjoying her coffee.

After two minutes, she tries to open her Outlook. She clicks on the icon and but nothing happens. She figures it will take a while to load, so she opens the internet explorer. Nothing happens also. By now, she has wasted about five minutes waiting for her computer to be ready. Now Belle, contrary to popular belief, is a very busy girl and hates wasting her time at work. If she is to waste her time at work, good food or some serious goofing off would better be involved.

So five minutes have passed since she plopped her tush at her desk, and she has done nothing so far but wait and drink coffee. The caffeine does not help because right now Belle is getting very agitated and about to make the computer work faster by banging the side of the PC. Thankfully internet explorer loads up and she is able to check her personal email. About the same time, Outlook finally loads too and now she can check her work email. Crisis averted. Or so she thinks.

While trying to switch between windows, Outlook to Explorer, to Microsoft Excel, to MSN (used to discuss work issues with her coworkers), Belle also has to wait. There is no smooth transition between windows, which means she has to wait. Again. Belle resists the urge to scream. All this waiting equals to time wasted and nothing annoys Belle more at the work place than time wasted over nothing.

Sometime during the day, Belle is working on her monthly report which includes a lot of data entry and anaylsing it. Suddenly a small window pops up and she accidentally hits enter, because the next step in her data entry is to hit enter, and the stupid small window pops up unannounced and unexpectedly she cannot stop her finger from hitting the enter button until it is too late. She sits in horror as one by one, her running programs closes without any prompt to save. The computer is now restarting. Belle has to get some coffee to calm herself.

When she comes back five minutes later, the computer is still restarting. She sits back at her desk, sips her coffee and thinks of happy things while waiting for the vicious cycle to start all over again.

Now, let's compare what Belle goes through everyday when working on her Apple iBook. Belle presses the power button, and in 10 seconds (or even less) the screen comes up for Belle to enter her username and password. After doing so, it takes another 10 seconds (or even less) for the desktop screen to load, and within mere seconds, she can open as many programs as she wants and starts working on whatever it is that needs working. Let's count how long Belle has to wait. And compare that to the time it takes to operate a PC.

Belle easily opens and closes windows, changing between Safari, Office, Excel, Quicktime, iTunes, MSN, Skype, and the list goes on.... No time wasted on waiting. When a Mac needs updating for its software, it does so in the most polite way. There is still a small window popping out of nowhere, but it does not make itself so prominent that you are spared of the consequences of hitting the enter button too fast. Now, isn't that very thoughtful of the Apple folks?

Now, let's say you're a manager of a company of 20 staff, and you all use PCs. They'll be wasting at least 5 minutes everyday waiting for the stupid thing to load. Now, let's calculate 5 minutes per person, in a company of 20 people. ONE HUNDRED MINUTES. AT LEAST. PER DAY. Sounds like a lot of time lost over nothing. Compare that to Mac. 10 seconds and 20 staff. See the difference?

I know I should appreciate PC because I would not be writing this right now in this media had it not been invented, but by God, can they PLEASE work on its efficiency? If Steve Jobs can do it with Mac, why can't the others do the same? (One answer and I'm sticking to it: Steve Jobs is a super genius). So yes, if I were ruler of the Universe, I would get rid of all PCs and replace them with Mac. I'd take care of those war things going on in the Middle East first (I have my priorities), but after that, it's the PCs I'd be waging war against.

PS: Those who are more computer literate than I am, you are free to comment but do not judge my decision to switch to Mac. And don't tell me about the features I can use to make my PC go faster or whatever, because that's not the point. The point is, the PC should work as fast as Mac does without any additional thing that I have to do to make it happen.

อย่างไรก็ตาม แม้รายได้จะเพิ่มขึ้น แต่ตัวเลขกำไรก็ถือว่าลดลงมาอยู่ที่ 34.8% จากเดิมที่ 36.9% ซึ่งนั่นก็สร้างความกังวลให้แก่นักลงทุนไม่น้อยทีเดียว แถมผู้เชี่ยวชาญยังมองว่าในไตรมาส 4 อาจมีตัวเลขลดลงกว่านี้อีก

สาเหตุหนึ่งที่นักลงทุนกำลังไม่มั่นใจในสถานการณ์ของ Apple อยู่ก็คือ สุขภาพของ Steve Jobs นั่นเอง เพราะการประชุมผลประกอบการไตรมาส 3 นี้ Steve Jobs ก็ไม่ได้มาเข้าร่วมประชุมด้วย ซึ่งมีคำถามว่า Steve Jobs หายขาดจากโรคร้ายแล้วหรือยัง

สำหรับ Steve Jobs นั้นเคยตรวจพบว่าเป็นโรคมะเร็งตับอ่อนเมื่อ 4 ปีก่อน และได้รับการรักษามาโดยตลอด ด้วยการตัดส่วนบนของตับอ่อน ลำไส้ ท่อน้ำดี และกระเพาะบางส่วนออกไป ซึ่งโดยปกติแล้วหลังการผ่าตัด ผู้ป่วยจะมีน้ำหนักลดลง 5-10% และมีโอกาสรอดชีวิต 80-90% ในระยะเวลา 5 ปี แต่การแถลงเปิดตัว iPhone 3G ครั้งล่าสุด ทุกคนก็พบว่า Steve Jobs มีร่างการที่ซูบผอมลงจนน่าตกใจ จนหลายคนสงสัยว่าเขาจะสามารถทำงานใน Apple ต่อไปได้หรือไม่

Peter Oppenheimer รองประธานอาวุโส Apple Inc. ได้ออกมาปฏิเสธที่จะเปิดเผยข้อมูลใดๆ พร้อมบอกว่า Steve Jobs ไม่มีแผนที่จะลาออกจาก Apple และเรื่องสุขภาพของเขาก็เป็นเรื่องส่วนตัวอีกด้วย

ทั้งนี้ เมื่อดูราคาหุ้นของ Apple ก็จะพบว่าร่วงลงมาโดยตลอดตั้งแต่เดือนพฤษภาคมที่ผ่านมา จาก 185 ดอลลาร์สหรัฐ ล่าสุดมาอยู่ที่ 166.29 ดอลลาร์สหรัฐ (อ้างอิงข้อมูลเมื่อ 21/7/2008) และนักลงทุน นักวิเคราะห์ สื่อมวลชน ไปจนถึงลูกค้าของ Apple ต่างก็ยังคงพูดถึงสุขภาพของ Steve Jobs อย่างไม่ขาดปากมานานนับเดือนแล้ว

เหตุผลก็คือทุกคนมองว่า ถ้า Steve Jobs ยังไม่หายป่วย สินค้าของ Apple อาจมีคุณภาพและดีไซน์ไม่เต็ม 100% พวกนักลงทุนก็มองว่าถ้าสินค้ามีคุณภาพไม่ดีพอ ยอดขายก็ตก กำไรหดหาย ส่งผลให้ราคาหุ้นดิ่งลงอีก ขณะที่สื่อมวลชนก็ติดตามความคืบหน้าอย่างใกล้ชิด แต่ Steve Jobs ก็ไม่เคยออกมาแถลงข่าวอย่างเป็นทางการเสียที

อย่างไรก็ตาม นักวิเคราะห์บางคนบอกว่า เรื่องความกังวลเกี่ยวกับสุขภาพของ Steve Jobs นั้น เป็นเรื่องไร้สาระทั้งเพ พร้อมทั้งมองว่าการขึ้นลงของหุ้นเป็นเรื่องปกติ และนี่อาจจะเป็นโอกาสอันดีในการเข้าซื้อหุ้นราคาถูกต่างหาก

In my various adventures through the Internet I have come across a gem worthy of mention,Paintbits.

I have found inspiration in this site and it certainly has improved my design skills in various categories. Leopard or the mac platform has always amazed me with its visual candy but I am a die hard windows user. Well this did not stop the creator of Painbits from getting that "mac shine" and he has put together an excellent tutorial which I have followed. Basically he put together a few free applications to achieve this visual feast. Anatomy of my Desktop

Below is my Desktop based on his tutorial, with a spin.

If you would like to know the exact steps I did to achieve this look let me know in the comments.

Anteriormente había programado solo en PCs y ahora que lo hago en Mac puedo decir, con la leve experiencia que tengo, que hasta programar en el sistema operativo de la manzanita se siente mejor (puede que esté equivocado, ya que no he realizado proyectos grandes y solo he trabajado con Java).

Como había de esperarse, realicé el tradicional primer programa que un aprendiz de programación escribe en un lenguaje nuevo:

-

public class Hola
{
     public static void main (String[] args)
       {
            System.out.println ("Hola Mundo!");
        }
}

-

Para realizarlo escribí el programa en el editor de texto jEdit y posteriormente lo compilé y lo corrí en la Terminal de la compu. No tuve necesidad de instalar el compilador de Java, porque Mac ya lo incluye.

Seguramente este es el comienzo de una nueva "era" de programación en mi vida, donde un tiempo estuvo Delphi, .net, y otros más! Asi que me digo a mi mismo: Bienvenido al mundo de Java!!

___________________________________________________________

Temas relacionados:

• Tengo Mac en la cabeza
• Windows nunca falla (Spiderman me lo dijo)
• Cuando castigan a un programador

Meu irmão de 4 anos sabe jogar. A tela de apresentação tem um unicórnio. É o tipo de jogo que você só precisa clicar em um botão. E ainda assim, Peggle tem ganhado prêmios por ser um excelente jogo casual, e extremamente viciante.

O objetivo é simples: mirar e acertar as bolinhas vermelhas. Mas tem algo que faz você querer ir para a próxima fase e acertar as bolinhas vermelhas da próxima fase. Seria o som? Seriam os personagens com seus poderes mágicos? Seriam as paisagens surreais? Seria a vibrante conquista de um "Extreme fever", com Beethoven em alto e bom som, enquanto peggles e um arco-íris explodem na tela? Existe um prazer quase narcótico em jogar esse jogo.

A versão para PC é excelente e a versão para iPod não deixa nada a desejar. Ter esse jogo no bolso é como fazer aulas de 50 minutos passarem em 1 minuto, ou meia hora em uma fila passar em um instante. Bastante recomendável, mas use-o com moderação: Peggle te deixa burro. Para compensar, farei a review do Brain Challenge em um próximo post.

"dito,emang apa sih kelebihan macintosh dibanding ama windows?"

"kalo pake macintosh katanya susah ya,bener gak sih?"

Saya berulangkali mendapatkan pertanyaan senada tentang bagaimana sebenarnya Macintosh itu.cukup wajar karena pengguna operating system ini bisa dibilang masih cukup langka di kalangan mahasiswa.saya mencatat dari sekitar 5000an mahasiswa di kampus saya,hanya 4 ato 5 orang yang menggunakan operating system ini.jauh dibanding pengguna windows yang seabreg dan linux yang mulai populer.prosentase yang cukup jomplang untuk sebuah mac yang menurut wall street journal ditahbiskan sebagai operating system terbaik di dunia,2007 kemarin.banyak penyebab yang sempat saya perhatikan kenapa OS ini masih belum dilirik oleh sebagian orang,termasuk teman2 mahasiswa.Dua diantara faktor utama tersebut adalah :

1. OS mac yang harus menyatu dengan hardware buatan Apple

menurut saya ini adalah faktor terpenting kenapa banyak orang yang masih enggan ato belum tergerak untuk menggunakan mac.sistem mac (hardware + software) memang dianggap agak rumit dan menyusahkan bagi mayoritas pengguna komputer awam di indonesia.mereka lebih cenderung menyukai PC yang bisa diupgrade,gampang diservis (????) ,garansinya mudah,harga yang murah dan yang terpenting ada windows di dalamnya.walaupun menurut saya justru ini yang agak aneh.alasan2 diataslah yang harusnya justru membuat orang musti memakai mac.mitos yang menyebut mac gak bisa diupgrade itu juga salah besar sebenarnya.mac is upgradable.garansi mac malahan lebih baik dari PC berbasis vendor manapun.kita bisa menambah masa garansi mac menjadi 3 tahun dengan Applecare Protection Plan.layanan service center mac juga tersebar dimana-mana, dilengkapi dengan layanan operator via telepon (USA). untuk urusan harga saya pribadi cenderung melihat mac mempunyai harga yang reasonable dengan kualitas yang ditawarkannya.mahal ato murah itu jelas relatif,namun kita bisa membenchmark produk mac akan jauh lebih eternal dan low cost-maintenance dibanding produk PC lainnya. kemudian untuk kemudahan penggunaannya. mac bisa dikata relatif mudah dan user friendly digunakan dibanding OS berbasis GUI lainnya.ini bukan masalah pembiasaan,namun secara objektif saya bisa mengatakan sistem mac sangat straightforward.WYSWYG=What you see is what you get!kalo anda tidak percaya,silakan anda cicipi OS mac di Apple Store resmi di sekitar anda (Kalo bandung ada di BeMall (eStore) dan PVJ (Zoom) ). jadi faktor menyatunya hardware dan software ini yang membuat pasar mac di indonesia sangat terbatas.It's all about habit and culture of indonesian PC consument.ditunjang juga dengan sikap konsumen yang cenderung windows oriented dan susah untuk belajar dan mencoba sesuatu yang baru selain windows.selain itu juga pertimbangan harga dan purnajual yang masih dinomersatukan.price first,quality second.Maklum Indonesia!..no offfense! ;)

2. mindset atau paradigma yang menyebut mac adalah OS untuk orang2 yang menyenangi graphic designer atau audio mixing.

Nah,orang anehlah yang mungkin akan berkata demikian.anda bisa bayangkan betapa tidak masuk akalnya jikalau mac hanya didesign untuk mereka yang berkutat pada area audiovisual designer.jelas pandangan ini bersumber dari pemahaman yang kurang tepat akan sebuah OS.memang pada faktanya banyak para designer memilih menggunakan mac untuk menyelesaikan pekerjaannya.namun,keputusan ini pastilah didasari atas software yang tersedia di mac,bukan dari mac itu sendiri.gampangnya,seorang video editor akan menggunakan mac jikalau di mac memang ada aplikasi/software bagus untuk video editting.dan memang mac mempunyai Final Cut Studio,yang notabene adalah salah satu software video editting terbaik.setali tiga uang dengan seorang photografer yang mengandalkan aperture di mac untuk melakukan tugas2 editting foto. jadi menurut saya pandangan ini jelas perlu diluruskan.Mac didesign untuk melakukan semua kegiatan komputasi kita.baik multimedia,document stuff,network,server administration,education maupun sebagai OS desktop rumahan biasa.saya sendiri malah lebih banyak memanfaatkan mac untuk bereksperimen di bidang jaringan dan kernel.dan kenyataannya mac memang menawarkan kemudahan dalam proses konfigurasinya.dengan darwin dan sifat open sourcenya,mac memang juga dirancang untuk bisa dikembangkan masyarakat luas,terutama yang menyangkut XCode kernelnya.

Dua mitos diatas mungkin tidak akan mewakili betapa cutting-edgenya teknologi mac.namun setidaknya telah memberikan gambaran kepada saya tentang segmentasi pasar sebuah OS di Indonesia khususnya.harapan saya simple!kita harus mencoba untuk lebih objektif dalam menilai kinerja dan performansi sebuah sistem yang kita pakai.jangan pernah tertipu oleh taklid buta atau opini yang berkembang di masyarakat.semuanya perlu dicek dan ditelaah lebih lanjut.Mari kita menggali lebih dalam tentang operating system yang kita pakai.Jangan pernah mau tertipu oleh nama,merk,ataupun popularitas.Pepatah Prancis berkata : du chocs des idees jaillit la lumiere,dari benturan gagasan akan muncul sinar (kebenaran).Semuanya kembali pada anda kembali tentang bagaimana memutuskan OS yang tepat untuk notebook atau PC anda.Selamat mencoba (mac). Salam Mac! ;)

cheers,dito!

But the thing is, when I hacked it, it made the worst sounding sound that I have ever heard, it was like scraping a chalkboard with sharp like finger nails.  And it told me to plug in, even though it just said not to.

Pas mal de tutos ont fleuri sur le net concernant le jailbreak de l’iPhone 3G, de l’iPhone v1 firmware 2.0 et de l’iPod Touch. Je vais donc les rassembler en vous souhaitant un bon jailbreak.

Ce tutoriel existait déja plus ou moins sur le forum iPhoneFr mais il est "officialisé" par le toujours excellent blog iTouch. Merci d'avance à Bananasplit ^^

Vous êtes sur le tuto pour le jailbreak de votre iPod Touch firmware/version 2.0 sous Windows ! Si vous n’avez pas tout ce matériel, voici la liste des autres tutos :

• Jailbreak iPhone 3G sous Windows
• Jailbreak iPhone 3G sous Mac ( Tutoriel anglais traduit par google)
• Jailbreak iPhone v1 firmware 2.0 sous Mac
• Jailbreak iPhone v1 firmware 2.0 sous Windows
• Firmware 2.0 gratuit sur iPod Touch sous Windows
• Firmware 2.0 gratuit sur iPod Touch sous Mac
• Jailbreak iPod Touch 2.0 sous Mac
• Jailbreak iPod Touch 2.0 sous Windows

Mais ça ne saurait tarder, alors restez connectés sur le blog, vous serez au courant de tout les premiers !

Si vous avez des questions, s’il y a des oublis, des bugs, ou quoi que ce soit, demandez le en commentaire.

Le jour même de la sortie du Pwnage Tool pour Mac, les premiers “Windows Users” ont trouvé la solution pour Windows, mais elle n’a été approuvée par aucun rédacteur :P Et donc, je serai le premier a donner ce tuto tant attendu pour certains, sous Windows.

En Route ! :

Pré requis :

1) iTunes 7.5 (lien)

2) iTunes 7.7 (lien)

3) Le Custom Firmware de Percuss : (lien)

4) Le Firmware 1.1.3 ou 1.1.4, que vous devez en théorie déjà avoir dans sur votre machine, à localiser dans le dossier C:/Documents And Settings/Nom D’utilisateur/Application Data/Apple Computer/iTunes/iPod Software Update/Firmware 1.1.3/4). Sinon, téléchargez le 1.1.4 via ce lien.

1) Downgrader iTunes 7.7 en 7.5

Pour commencer, désinstallez iTunes 7.7. Une fois désinstallé, installez iTunes 7.5 dont le lien a été donné plus haut, lancez celui-ci.

2) Restaurer le iPod Touch en 1.1.3/4

Une fois iTunes 7.5 lancé, branchez votre iPod Touch à l’ordinateur, puis mettez le en Mode DFU pour que iTunes détecte votre iPod en mode de récupération (restauration), puis cliquez sur Shift+Restaurer et choisissez le firmware 1.1.3 ou 1.1.4 via le chemin évoqué plus haut.

Puis le iPod se restaurera en 1.1.3/4, laissez-le faire.

3) Upgrader iTunes 7.5 en 7.7

Une fois que la restauration sera complète, débranchez le iPod de votre ordinateur et passez à la version 7.7 d’iTunes, en l’installant tout simplement (lien donné plus haut).

Vous avez maintenant : -iTunes 7.7 - iPod Touch Firmware 1.1.3/4

4) Pwnage du iPod Touch avec le Firmware de Percuss :

Téléchargez le firmware custom de Percuss (lien donné plus haut) et mettez le dans un lieu sûr. (Bureau par exemple).

Lancez iTunes 7.7, puis branchez votre iPod, et mettez le en Mode DFU pour que iTunes détecte votre iPod en mode de récupération (restauration) puis cliquez sur Shift+Restaurer et choisissez le firmware custom de Percuss que vous avez enregistré au préalable.

Votre iPod devrait maintenant se restaurer avec le firmware Custom de Percuss ! Laissez faire iTunes, quelques minutes… Une fois l’opération terminée votre iPod Touch reviendra sur iTunes normal, mais ce n’est pas tout ! Regardez sur le springboard de votre iPod Touch, il y a non seulement le 2.0 (App Store par exemple) mais aussi Cydia !

Bravo, vous avez réussi !

Remerciements :

- Percuss pour nous avoir uploader son firmware Custom, sans sa, pas de jailbreak 2.0 sous WIndows …
- Orezzincu, pour m’avoir guidé dans ce pwnage du 2.0 sous Windows !

###

Via le blog iTouch, grâce à Bananasplit

more info:

download (651mb):

PhotoTune 2.2 is an Adobe® Photoshop® plugin that provides professional quality color correction in an easy to use plug-in. PhotoTune 2.2 incorporates ColorTune technology (formerly known as 20/20 Color MD) with its patented color correction process and SkinTune technology, developed after more than two years of in-depth skin color research. PhotoTune 2.2 makes the tedious and time-consuming task of color correction simple and straightforward to improve your post-processing workflow.

Give your photos the professional look without having to learn the complicated steps in Photoshop. PhotoTools 1.0 Professional Edition includes a comprehensive library of 250 effects and photo enhancements designed by Jack Davis and onOne Software.

Interesting analysis. Sales are hitting record levels, with no signs of slowing down, even for iPods, much less the iPhone 3G and burgoning Mac sales. So, why did in their financial statement, did they say they expect record low profits, ones lower than seen over the last couple of years? Why did Oppenheimer, CFO of Apple, say "...making a reasonable margin but not a margin so high as to leave an umbrella for our competitors"? The above article, by Silicon Valley Insider, shows that Apple slashing prices a couple of hundred dollars, and adding new products (also hinted at) in order to become the dominant PC maker in the US, and a bigger force in the world market, is a distinct possibility.

My Mac Mini definitely is a reasonable price, but it would be nice if their higher end computers were not at a slight (10-15%) premium over comparable PCs. Imagine the Macbook going for a hundred dollars less. It would sell like hotcakes as it would be below the magic $1,000, or even a deeper cut as the article speculates.

Mask Pro combines a powerful, intuitive toolset with advanced color matching and decontamination technology to deliver superior, real-world masking results down to the finest detail. Mask Pro makes it easy to create masks, selections and clipping paths on difficult subjects like hair, glass and fog. Mask Pro’s toolbox lets you use the right tools for different parts of your image and lets you see and refine your mask in real-time. Replacing backgrounds is now a snap with Mask Pro.

more info: http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=4

Mask Pro 4.1.1 Update+[K]

Mask Pro 4.1 Update

Mask Pro 4.0 RETAIL

http://rapidshare.com/files/129715055/Mask_Pro_4.1_Update.dmg

http://rapidshare.com/files/129712643/Mask_Pro_4.1.1_Update__K_.dmg

http://rapidshare.com/files/129711854/Mask_Pro_4.0_Retail_Mac.dmg

http://rapidshare.com/files/129708197/Mask_Pro_4.1__CS3_dmg.zip.001

http://rapidshare.com/files/129710877/Mask_Pro_4.1__CS3_dmg.zip.002

My Mac arrived.  See how its embedded camera allows for insta photos? See how its white surface reflects light? See how the cut and paste shortcuts will take some getting used to? I have been contemplating the purchase of this beautiful little machine for several months and, despite recent market uncertainties and company re-orgs, decided it was time. I am now well equipped to troll the neighborhood coffee shops at 2pm on a Wednesday, should it come to that.

Outside my apartment they're shooting "I Hate Valentine's Day" with Nia Vardalos and John Corbett. I've seen Nia twice now, walking in and out of a dolled up florist on Court Street. John has not been spotted. I get a warm fuzzy watching film crews spill out onto New York streets. They remind me of days working on commercials - all the free snacks, standing around and uninterested pedestrians. I have a feeling the film will be mediocre and sequel-like, but of course will pay $10 to pinpoint the location of each scene.

I'm listening to a lot of Squeeze. Particularly Up The Junction, which reminds me of Daniel Lanois' O Marie, and Goodbye Girl, which elicits an immediate need to get in front of the mirror and mock choreograph. This probably has something to do with the recent letter I received from the Tufts Dance Program asking for the whereabouts and whatabouts of its alumni. "Raquel can be found in brooklyn, entertaining houseplants through her mastery of Modern Dance I and II."

Oh and the table arrived, referenced a few posts back. Photos and requests for chair suggestions to come. It's cool for cats.

Keeping your software up to date is very easy. I have the update manager set to check for updates every day when I am on, so the updates that are available are relatively small and quick to install. Once you get past the initial system update, which took over two hours on my connection, staying up to date is a breeze. I just follow the prompts, and let the update manager do what it needs to do.

I have spent some time playing around with my Sansa Fuse in Ubuntu, and have discovered that the music manager type of software just doesn't work well for me. I find it easier to copy the music off of my CD into a folder, and drag & drop it onto the Fuse. Since I also use it at work, I have to use it with Windows Media Player. I have already taken CDs to work and ripped them during lunch, then loaded them on the player. So far it is playing in both worlds quite nicely. If you are looking for an inexpensive MP3 Player, check it out.

The other thing that I am liking about Ubuntu's version of Linux how quickly it shuts down. I have put the mini into sleep mode, and standby, but most of the time I just power it off. All of these modes have been working well, but I really like how well it shuts down. Fast, just the way I like it.

Well, thats it for now. The weather has been too nice to do a lot of inside work, so further reports may have to wait. Have a lot of fun!

If PsyStar isn't completely shut down by Apple (which it probably will be) watch out, here comes the clones...

The Internet has been whispering rumors about Apple's plans to release a tablet Mac into the world for quite some time now. Rumors like this are common, especially in the Mac world, sometimes they are right, most of the time they are wrong. The tablet rumor is one that keeps coming up again and again. There is already a Modbook, but people seem to want Apple to come up with their own design, with their own twist on the concept of a tablet pc.

The latest news/rumor flying around today is that Apple is in fact going to release a MacBook Touch in October.  MacDailyNews reports:

Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like, but fuller-featured Multi-Touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion's haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. Pretty expensive to produce initially, but sold at "low" price that will reduce margins. Apple wants to move these babies. And move they will. This is some sick shit. App Store-compatible, able to run Mac apps, too. By October at the latest.

Personally I'm interested in how "low" the price margins will be. I've looked at the Modbooks and other tablet pcs like those made by HP, but none of them really seem worthwhile, I'm much rather just get a Cintiq. But if these rumors are true, Apple will be releasing something that is much more than just a tablet pc. I'm imagining something like what they had on Star Trek Enterprise. I will be paying attention to the rumor as time goes by and October draws closer, this could be very interesting.

Check out Gizmodo's article about the rumors (it's got better photos (not real though) ).

AKVIS Coloriage manipulates colors of an image: from colorizing old black and white photos from your family archive to replacing colors in your color photos.

Make a present for your grandmother by adding color to her school photo, replace the colors of your car to see how it would look in scarlet, see how you will look if you dye your hair red.

AKVIS Coloriage creates natural-looking colorization in a quick and entertaining manner. It works equally well for coloring of portraits, landscapes, fashion, and still life. The skin, sky, verdure, and tree color patterns help users to select realistic colors for their picture.

Apply your creativity and you will find a wide variety of other usages for the software. You can create colorful backgrounds out of ordinary dull pictures, you can apply AKVIS Coloriage to get rid of the red eye effect, to make selective color correction, selective desaturation and colorizing, etc.

AKVIS Coloriage is as easy to use as a coloring book. No layers manipulation, no complicated techniques, no more hours of frustration attempting to get just the look you want - everything is done with a few brush strokes. Indicate the desired colors by the stroke of the brush; the program does the rest of the work: recognizes the object's border and tailors the new color to the grayscale tones of the initial picture.

Use AKVIS Coloriage for the following purposes:

add color to black and white photos;

add color to hand sketch drawings (for example, manga drawings and comics);

replace colors on a color photo;

try different color schemes for interior and exterior design;

selective desaturation and selective colorization of areas on a color photo.

----------

AKVIS ArtSuite is an impressing collection of versatile effects for decoration of photos.

Decorate a photo to give it an original and festive look! You may need it on many occasions: when creating a postcard for your friends, making a holiday album, a personalized desktop wallpaper, or just playing with your images "for art's sake".

The software offers over 17 basic effects that allow creating an endless number of effect versions.

The effects are grouped as follows:

Edge Effects (Photo Frames) let you generate a photo frame for your photo. Add elegance and style to your image by putting it into a classic frame with wood carving or create a funny picture by adding it some cheerful frogs along the border.

Photo frames samples that come with ArtSuite can be easily tailored to your particular photo. Select a color for the frame; choose its form, its style, brightness, and the intensity of the applied edge effect.

You can create a frame with ragged edges, scratched surface, a page curl, etc. It can be a wooden frame with figured carving or a frame with an ornament. If you enjoy working with layers, you will appreciate the possibility to apply a transparent frame, so that the lower layer(s) could serve as background.

Create your own unique frames!

Save a square or rectangular pattern as a graphic file and use it to generate an original photo frame. The result can be astounding!

Artistic Effects allow experimenting with photos – convert a photo into a B&W image and consequently add a color shade to it; replace colors on an image, add a texture (chosen from the built-in Texture Library or one created by the user) so that the image looks like drawn on a canvas, brick wall, corrugated paper, etc.

Download : http://rapidshare.com/files/108828644/LineWallpaper2.rar

176 328 704 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 01 - General Textures.iso
357 988 352 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 02 - Aged & Stressed.iso
391 483 392 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 03 - Bases & Layers.iso
712 603 648 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 04 - Humans & Creatures.iso
457 011 200 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 05 - Dirt & Grafitti.iso
634 374 144 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 06 - Clean Textures.iso
507 049 984 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 07 - Sci-Fi.iso
722 216 960 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 08 - Vehicles.iso

577 091 584 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 09 - Ancient Tribes & Civilisations.iso
1 807 462 400 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 10 - Trees And Plants.iso
350 056 448 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 11 - Alien Organic.iso
476 872 704 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 12 - Textures From Around The World 1.iso
406 351 872 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 13 - Textures From Around The World 2.iso
541 405 184 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 14 - Fantasy.iso
406 237 184 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 15 - Toon Textures.iso
1 098 868 736 bytes - 3D Total Textures Vol 16 - Architectural Showroom.iso

The Original Total Texture collection was created in 2001, utilising the best methods and technology of the time. Since then, techniques and technology have both moved forward, and here at 3DTotal we felt that although the original collection is still widely used and highly regarded among artists and studios of all calibers, it was time for an update...
This enormously improved version of the original texture collection now contains 188 individual Materials, comprising of over 1300 individual, hand crafted texture maps and are all fully tileable. Every Texture now has its own unique colour map, bump map, specular, mask and normal map.

Included this time are 'Overlay Masks' which can be used over tiling textures to remove obvious repeated areas, and make it possible for the texture to be used over larger areas. With the 24 unique overlay masks combined with the 188 textures on the cd, over 4500 different textures can be created! This doesnt even cover the endless textures that can be created by modifying or switching bump or specular maps.

360 degree Panoramic skydome maps have also been added. In fact we have replaced the entire sky section that came with original CD. These Panorama's have been exclusively created for this collection and will not be resold or given away anywhere else.

Download Links File - 10 Kb: Megaupload